PT TOMORROW: AL WEST—The 3B crowd in TEX

Texas Rangers

Suddenly the 3B / utility spots look crowded in TEX going forward, and even the 3B-of-the-future may be a bit more uncertain. Andy Ibáñez (3B, TEX) had been a pleasant surprise in the second half of last year and was installed early as a place-holder for the arrival of heralded Josh Jung (3B, TEX), who subsequently went down with labrum surgery. We were skeptical early of Ibáñez, recently dispatched back to Triple-A after showing no offensive improvement vR and even struggling against LHP.

His immediate replacement was Josh Smith (3B, TEX), an advanced prospect in his own right who had posted an .804 OPS through 191 PA early in his first attempt at Triple-A—but whose minor league game log to date reads like a super-utility...

Almost!

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